Section-insulator



SECTION IN SULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4I 1916.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

ATTORNEY INVENTOR Lemuel 5. Boqgs.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEMUEL S. BOGGS, 0F SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHGUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING GQDIPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SECTION-INSULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2., 1920.

To all iii/20m it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEMUEL S. Bones, a citizen f the United States, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Section-Insulators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to overhead construction for electric trolley lines and it has special r lation to section insulators for use in connection with trolley lines that are operated under high voltages and in con nection with high-speed sliding or pantograph trolleys.

The object of my invention is to provide a section insulator of the abo s indicated character which shall be particularly adapted for catenary trolley construction and which shall be provided with glider attachments so arranged that the trolley, during itspassage across the insulator, is con tinuously in engagement with a resilientconducting wire.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a side elevational view, with parts broken away, of a section insulator constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of a clip which forms a part of the same structure, the trolley and glider wires in this figure being shown in a section taken along the line III-III of Fig. 2; and Fig. 41- is a detail view of a modified form of clip embodied in my invention.

The trolley conductors of high-speed electric railways are commonly divided into sections which are electrically independent but are mechanically connected by means of sectionalizing insulators. When such trolley conductors are used in connection with trolleys of the pantograph type, it is usual to provide the opposite ends of the section insulators with arms or gliders extending obliquely outward from opposite sides of the insulator, these gliders being designed to afford a continuous conducting path for the pantograph as it traverses the insulator and thereby to avoid the possibility of the pantograph coming to rest upon the nonconducting section of the insulator. As such gliders have heretofore been constructed and arranged, the pantograph, in passing across the insulator, first engages one of the end castings of the insulator, then the first glider, next the second glider and finally the casting at the opposite end of the insulator, before resuming its contact with the trolley conductor. The pertions of the trolley conductors adjacent to the insulator, together with the end castings, form hard spots upon which the pantograph is likely to strike with violent blows, thereby straining or damaging the overhead construction or the pantograph itself.

According to my present invention, 1 provide gliders for section insulators of the above described type which constitute a continuously smooth and resilient surface for the pantograph at the opposite ends of the insulators. I accomplish this result by forming the gliders of wire similar to that used for the trolley conductor, and I dispose one end of each glider wire adjacent to the conductor wire at some distance be yond the end of the insulator. The glider wire is attached to the conductor wire by a suitable clip and is arranged horizontally parallel to the conductor wire to the point where the conductor is attached to the insulator end casting, from which point the glider wire is extended obliquely outward after the manner of ordinary gliders and is bent backward and finally attached to the adjacent casting of the insulator.

The insulator shown in the accompanying drawing consists of a strip 1 of wood or other non-conducting material orovided with end castings 2 and 3 to which trolley sections 4: and 5 are attached by means of U-bolts 6 in the usual manner. Secured to each end of the insulator is a glider 7 composed of a wire attached to the adjacent conductor section by means of a suitable clip 8 at some distance from the end of the insulator and carried along parallel with the trolley conductor to the end casting, to which it is attached by means of clips 9.. From this point, the glider wire extends obliquely outward and somewhat below the lower edge of the insulating section 1 to a point beyond the center of the insulating section, where the wire is bent upward, asshown at 10, to provide an easy approach for the trolley. The wire is then doubled backward and its end is fastened to the end casting by means of the clips 9 mentioned above. A clip 11 is preferably employed to unite the two portions of the glider loop in rigid relation, and the outer end of each glider is preferably suspended by means of suitable hangers 12 from catenary messenger cables 13 supported from a catenary section insulator 14.

The trolley construction of the type to which my invention relates ordinarily comprises a feeder conductor disposed above the trolley conductor and similarly divided into sections, the sections of such a feeder conductor being shown at 15 in the accompanying drawing. As shown in Fig. 4, the clips 8 which attach the glider wire to the conductor wire may, if desired, be so arranged as to clamp the feeder wire 15 also, or, as

shown in Fig. 1, the clip may only be asso-' ciated with the glider and the conductor wire. In either case, the clip 8 is secured in its clamping position by means of a bolt 16 and a nut 17.

It will be observed that a pantograph trolley, in passing across a section insulator constructed in the manner described above, engages nothing except wires corresponding in size and resilience to ordinary trolley wire, and that, therefore, the pantograph will encounter no hard spots or mechanical shocks in passing from one trolley section to the next section. It is to be understood that the structural details which I have shown and described may be variously modified by persons skilled in the art Without exceeding the limits of my invention and that my invention comprehends all such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims. 7

I claim as my invention:

1. A section insulator for trolley conductors comprising an insulating member, means for connecting the opposite ends of the said member to trolley-conductor sec tions, a glider of the same construction as the said conductors having a part thereof bent into a loop, means for rigidly securing one end of said loop to said member, and means forsupporting the other end of said loop.

2. A section insulator for trolley conductors comprising an insulating member, means for connecting the opposite ends of the said member to trolley conductor sections, and gliders of the same construction as the said conductors associated with the said connecting means, each of the said glidersbeing connected to the adjacent trolley-conductor section and to the said con-' necting means, and being formed into a loop extending obliquely outward from the said connecting means.

parallel portions, one'end of which is attached to the said connecting means and the other end of which is extended beyond the end of the insulator and clamped to the trolley conductor.

4. A section insulator for trolley conductors comprising an insulating member, means for connecting the opposite ends of the said member to trolley-conductor sections, gliders associated with the said connecting means, each of the said gliders comprising a wire of ti same construction as said conductors bent into a loop having substantially parallel portions, the end of the upper portion being attached to the said connecting means and the lower portion being extended beyond the end of the insulator and being clamped to the trolley conductor, and supporting means for attaching the said liders to a messenger cable.

5. r section insulator for trolley conductors comprising an insulating member, meansfor connecting the opposite ends of thesaid member to trolley-conductor sections, gliders associated with the said connecting means, each of the said glic ers comprising a wire bent into a loop having substantially parallel portions, and a clip for connecting the two portions of each loop, the upper portion of each loop being clamped to the adjacent connecting means and the lower portion of each loop being disposed somcwhat below the lower edge of the said insulating member and being extended beyond the end of the insulator and clamped to-the adjacent trolley-conductor section. V

6. A section insulator for trolley conductors comprising an insulating member, means for connecting the said member to trolley-conductor sections, an auxiliary relatively short portion of trolley-conductor material disposed at one side of said member and constituting a glider, said relatively short portion being of substantially U-shapc. bracing means between the legs thereof, and means for supporting said glider.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this twenty eighth day of January, 1916.

LEMUEL S. BUGGS 

